Council Asks Judge to Dismiss Mayor Mamdani’s Lawsuit Over Teacher Pay
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces a pushback in Manhattan court from lawmakers fighting his lawsuit over $10,000 pay bumps given to school teaching assistants outside their union contracts.
The City Council’s attorneys asked a judge in Tuesday court papers to drop the mayor’s lawsuit. They said that if the mayor dislikes the giveaway, he should bake it into his own labor negotiations.
“The Mayor, who affirmatively chose to bring this lawsuit, does not get to litigate his case in an imaginary world bereft of legislative history that he dislikes,” the legal team wrote in a brief.
Lawmakers asserted that the extra funds were necessary to offset a paraprofessional staffing crisis alongside economic relief payments. Mamdani argued that the council’s move in July to issue the cash illegally bypasses collective bargaining laws while negotiating with the United Federation of Teachers Union.
The council shot back that the move was simply the result of City Hall’s own conduct. Mamdani’s team argued in October papers that the payments cost the city an estimated $325 million.
“Although the Council labels these ‘stabilization’ payments, they function as stipends or salary bonuses and, regardless of terminology, would provide eligible school paraprofessionals with an additional form of compensation for the current school year,” administration attorney Steve Banks wrote in the filing.
Banks added that no amount of legal artistry can avoid the fact that these payments increase compensation. Under Taylor’s Law, union worker wages and salaries must be discussed at the bargaining table.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin spoke during a council meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. Lawmakers contend that the one-time payments are aboveboard and do not breach the law, noting the statute says nothing about precluding other worker avenues for benefits.
The United Federation of Teachers represents roughly 25,000 public school assistant teachers eligible for the relief checks. The union lambasted the mayor over the lawsuit and joined the council as a co-defendant on the case.
The union argues that the mayor and Department of Education declined to renegotiate teacher pay mid-contract. This left workers with no choice due to the increasing number of aides leaving the job.
“This law has one mission: attracting and keeping enough paraprofessionals in our schools to serve our kids. That mission is what the Mayor is suing to stop. We are asking the court to dismiss the mayor’s lawsuit,” Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said in an October news release.
Paraprofessionals make as little as $32,000 a year for full-time work. The profession currently has nearly 2,000 vacancies in public schools across the city.
Mayor Mamdani spoke during a press conference in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. The union’s current contract started in 2022 and runs until November 2027.